The Data Centers Are Coming: Ep. 4 - Transmission (Im)possible

If you’re anything like Building Local Power’s host, Danny Caine, you’ve seen your electric bill creep up and are wondering: are data centers to blame for this? Danny sets out to answer this and other burning questions about the murky way in which Big Tech’s data center arms race, public utilities, and electric bills intersect. Bringing his unanswered questions to energy experts, his neighbors, and his trusty dad, Danny aims to discover exactly how utilities make money from data center development, and if there’s any hope for our electric bills.  Guest voices + context:   Kevin Caine: Dad of Building Local Power host, Danny Caine, and resident of Cleveland, Ohio John Farrell: Co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and director of the Energy Democracy Initiative Cathy Kunkel: Energy consultant at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)   Elena Schlossberg: Executive director of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County Andrew Chow: TIME technology correspondent who has extensively covered AI and data centers at the intersection of race over the past few years.  Resources:  Data Center Watch Briefing Ohio's electric bills are high — and so are utility CEO salaries  The Policies Communities Need to Confront the AI Data Center Race  North Star Data Center Policy Toolkit: State and Local Policy Interventions to Stop Rampant AI Data Center Expansion - AI Now Institute The People Say No: Resisting Data Centers in the South - MediaJustice Proposed Prince William data center prompts protest letter to Jeff Bezos - The Washington Post Outcry grows over proposed Prince William data center - The Washington Post